Reliability and validity of functional grip strength measures across holds and body positions in climbers. (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
In recent years, climbing sports is on the rise making its Olympic debut in 2021. Physiological traits of professional rock climbers have been intensively studied, while recreational indoor climbers are less investigated, especially regarding grip strength and upper extremity proportions. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to understand what discerns the recreational climber from disparate recreational athletes. Therefore, we analyzed 50 recreational climbing (30.3 ± 12.7 years, 1.76 ± 0.09 m and 67.0 ± 14.0 kg) and 50 non-climbing athletes (26.4 ± 9.1 years, 1.78 ± 0.09 m and 73.2 ± 12.6 kg) to detect differences in their finger grip strength of seven different pinches. In addition, the upper extremity proportions were measured. Even in recreational climbers, almost all analyzed grips were stronger compared to other athletes (p < 0.05 in all but non-dominant fist, small to moderate effect sizes). Only the grip strength of the whole non-dominant hand was not significantly di...
Reliability and Validity of Finger Strength and Endurance Measurements in Rock Climbing
Research quarterly for exercise and sport, 2018
An advanced system for the assessment of climbing-specific performance was developed and used to: (a) investigate the effect of arm fixation (AF) on construct validity evidence and reliability of climbing-specific finger-strength measurement; (b) assess reliability of finger-strength and endurance measurements; and (c) evaluate the relationship between finger flexor all-out test scores and climbing ability. To determine the effect of AF, 22 male climbers performed 2 maximal strength and all-out tests with AF (shoulder and elbow flexed at 90°) and without AF (shoulder flexed at 180° and elbow fully extended). To determine reliability, 9 male climbers completed 2 maximal strength tests with and without AF and an all-out and intermittent test without AF. The maximal strength test without AF more strongly determined climbing ability than the test with AF (r = .48 and r = .42 for sport climbing; r = .66 and r = .42 for bouldering, respectively). Force and time variables were highly relia...
Currently, direct empirical evidence exists about the amount of mechanical load that climbers apply to each finger during several hand grips specific to sport climbing, but not yet in a specific hanging position. The objectives of this study are a) to draw and build a solid and rigid support that simulates the real action of a hand grip in a hanging position in sport climbing, to enable the measurement of the mechanical load endured by the fingers in a hanging position and in addition, b) to describe the distribution of mechanical load among fingers as a function of the level of climbing during different hand grips in a hanging position. Thirty young male participants took part in the initial phase of reliability of the measurements, while another 64 male climbers participated in the subsequent study phase to check the relations between independent and dependent variables. The level of on sight climbing and the total practice experience were used to define the groups. The research task consisted of performing hanging positions on the created support in order to measure the mechanical load endured by the fingers in the three most characteristic hand grips in climbing (crimp, half crimp and slope). It has been concluded that the performance level of the climbers had no influence on the production of a pattern of differentiated finger mechanical load during the research task.
Effect of hold depth and grip technique on maximal finger forces in rock climbing
The aim of this study was to understand how the commonly used climbing-specific grip techniques and hold depths influence the finger force capacities. Ten advanced climbers performed maximal voluntary force on four different hold depths (from 1 to 4 cm) and in two force directions (antero-posterior and vertical) using three grip techniques (slope, half crimp and full crimp). A specially designed platform instrumented with a 6-degrees-of-freedom (DoF) force/torque sensor was used to record force values. Results showed that the maximal vertical forces differed significantly according to the hold depth and the grip technique (ranged from 350.8 N to 575.7 N). The maximal vertical forces increased according to the hold depth but the form of this increase differed depending on grip technique. These results seemed to be more associated with finger-hold contact/interaction than with internal biomechanical factors. Similar results were revealed for antero-posterior forces (ranged from 69.9 N to 138.0 N) but, it was additionally noted that climbers have different hand-forearm posture strategies with slope and crimp grip techniques when applying antero-posterior forces. This point is important as it could influence the body position adopted during climbing according to the chosen grip technique. For trainers and designers, a polynomial regression model was proposed in order to predict the mean maximal force based on hold depth and adopted grip technique.
The main goal of this study was inventing a new instrument for testing the hand grip strength, among sport climbers and determining it’s correlation coefficient with men sport climber’s ability.32sport climbers were participate voluntarily in this study with the average age of 25.6±8.5 years old with the ability of climbing in difficulty grade of 5.10a to 5.13ab in Yosemite grade. The hand grip strength test was taken from all climbers in the same condition. The hand grip strength was divided by body weight, then the result was analyzed by Spear-man correlation coefficient method. It showed a high correlation between climbing ability and the amount of hand grip strength, with the coefficient of0.803.The reliability was also determine by analyzing correlation coefficient between a pretest and post-test with a week interval and the coefficient was 0.912. According to the lack of testing instrument with high correlation between normal hand grip dynamo-meters and climbing ability; so this new instrument seems to be efficient enough as a new instrument for measuring the hand grip strength among sport climbers.
Measuring Lifting Forces in Rock Climbing: Effect of Hold Size and Fingertip Structure
Journal of Applied Biomechanics, 2011
This study investigates the hypothesis that shallow edge lifting force in high-level rock climbers is more strongly related to fingertip soft tissue anatomy than to absolute strength or strength to body mass ratio. Fifteen experienced climbers performed repeated maximal single hand lifting exercises on rectangular sandstone edges of depth 2.8, 4.3, 5.8, 7.3, and 12.5 mm while standing on a force measurement platform. Fingertip soft tissue dimensions were assessed by ultrasound imaging. Shallow edge (2.8 and 4.3 mm) lifting force, in newtons or body mass normalized, was uncorrelated with deep edge (12.5 mm) lifting force (r < .1). There was a positive correlation (r = .65, p < .05) between lifting force in newtons at 2.8 mm edge depth and tip of bone to tip of finger pulp measurement (r < .37 at other edge depths). The results confirm the common perception that maximum lifting force on a deep edge (“strength”) does not predict maximum force production on very shallow edges. ...
BACKGROUND: This study aims to determine the effect of a 4-week system training (ST) regimen on finger-grip strength and endurance in sport climbers. The ST method works on improving the main grip types in climbing by training in an isolated and symmetrical way. METHODS: In this study, 24 recreational climbers were selected as participants and randomly allocated to an ST group (N.=12) or a control group (CON, N.=12) for the 4-week-long training regimen. The isometric maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) test using a climbing-specific apparatus was performed to determine the maximum finger flexor strength for the dominant (D) and non-dominant (ND) hands. Intermittent finger hang (IFH) and dead-hang (DH) tests were performed on three different grips by using a hangboard to assess finger flexor endurance before and after the training sessions. RESULTS: A significant increase was observed in the MVC for the ST group (20.1%, P<0.05), but not in the CON group (6.2%, P=0.24). The ST group showed significant increases for all parameters in endurance tests (IFH, 20.9 s; DHcrimp, 9.3 s; DHpinch, 7.1 s; DHslope, 11.2 s P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The 4-week ST regimen is a highly effective training method for improving grip strength and endurance in sport climbing.